Tuesday, January 10

Brush care is something I cant stress enough to my customers. I don’t want to think about the amount of times I’ve sold a brush just to be met with a blank stare at the suggestion of brush cleaner. Cleaning your brushes, whether you are a professional artist or an “I only wear makeup on weekends” type-a-gal, is paramount. Bacteria, dead skin cells, dirt and sebum all build up in our brushes... and we then wipe that on our face without a thought! Imagine if you never washed your toothbrush after you used it. Same thing.

Now that I have sufficiently grossed you all out, I’ll give you a run down on how to deep cleanse your brushes. Not to be confused with a quick clean, deep cleansing should be done every one to two weeks, and if you use your brushes professionally, every time you have a makeup job. As the name suggests, deep cleansing really gets all the grime from your brushes and it also conditions them. Most good quality brushes are real hair and I bet you paid a lot for them, so to keep them staying soft and in tip top condition try following the steps below.

Oh and just a little note, in this tutorial I am using the MAC conditioning brush cleanser but I also like to use a cheap alternative, such as Johnson and Johnson Baby Shampoo (you know, the yellow one!), which I think is just as good.Because my brushes are real hair and were a large investment I like to give them a treatment every 6 weeks using Jojoba oil. Lucky for me, I received this oil from Echo Life as part of my goody bag when I attended the Wellness WA POBM event so I didn’t have to purchase it, but you can find it at your supermarket for around 12 dollars.

1. Start by pouring the oil into the palm of your hand or into a small bowl. Dip a tiny amount onto the brush head and work it into the bristles. Remember this is an OIL, so apply sparingly!

2. Leave your brushes for 5-10 minuets while the oil sinks in. While you are waiting run a small warm bowl of water or set up near a sink. If I have a lot of brushes to clean I will use a bowl in front of the TV and change the water when it gets murky.

3. Dip your brush head into the water being careful to not immerse the head under the water. This is important as the glue will loosen and the hairs will fall out if you do! Pour a small amount of your cleanser onto the palm of your hand and swirl the brush head until you get a lather going. Work the cleaner though the brush with a little bit of water from the bowl until the suds disappear and the brush feels clean.

4. Gently squeeze the excess water from your brush and push the bristles back into shape. Lay the brushes flat on a bench with the brush heads hanging over the edge. This is another important step as the brushes will get moldy if you dry them on the bench. I also like to make sure the shape of the bristles are perfect as they are drying and I check on them every few hours.

This all sounds like a lot of hooha to clean some brushes, and I understand that not many people have the time to follow all these steps. If this is the case, pop to any cosmetics store and grab a brush cleaning spray. I like the Mecca Cosmetica Conditioning brush cleaner $22. Spray the product onto a tissue and wipe the brush until it runs clean. If you choose to use this method of cleaning pleaasseee try and deep cleanse your brushes once a month. Your brushes, your face and I will all love you!

Things have been quiet around here. Partly because I am enjoying my new busy work schedule, but I have also been spending a bit of time over at Wellness WA; the West Australian based wellbeing website that I like to write for. Recently Wellness WA hosted Perth’s first Online Beauty Media event, which saw a collective of Perth’s online beauty mavens gather at Djurra Day spa for a day of pampering, tweeting and learning. I was so excited to hear that the event was being held at Djurra as I have always longed to enter the beautiful (100 year!!) old building.

As a prerequisite of coming to the event we needed to bring with us three beauty products we don’t use, to swap with another three products we will use at the end of the event. I thought this was a great idea as it was a good talking point for us all and a chance to pass on some of my bulging makeup kit! During the day the lovely ladies from Djurra gave us mini spa treatments, while we feasted on food supplied by The Raw Kitchen and discussed all things beauty and media. Towards the end of the meet we listened to an informative chat with natropath, Adele Plumridge and received our monstrous goodie bags. Our treats were provided by over thirty generous sponsors which I will list at the end of this post.

I think the pictures speak for themselves, we were treated to an amazing day and I personally have come away from the event feeling rejuvenated and inspired. I have multiple products that I cannot wait to blog about (here and over on Wellness WA) and the photo above is a snapshot of my favourite gifts from our sponsors.

Thanks again to Annette from Wellness for being a superhero and organising all of this!

Monday, October 10

I just got home from the launch night of Perth's WA Designer Boutique, a cute pop up store in the heart of Perth city. The store is only here for three weeks so move fast to purchase items from LittleGracie, Bhalo, On tour and Generics Accessories, just to name a few. Also I FINALLY have my business cards sorted. Thanks so much for everyone that helped with the creation of the cards, I appreciate it!

Monday, September 26

If you are a regular reader of Perth blogs such as The Velvet Bow, Peanut Moonbeam Knickers and Heart and Bleeker you would have realised by now that we are in the midst of the Perth Fashion Festival. PFF runs for two weeks and not only showcases some of Western Australia's premier labels but also supports many up and coming designers.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the VIP opening night featuring Aurelio Costarella, which was held at a rotating restaurant high up in Perth's sky. I was asked to do the makeup for a few women heading to the VIP night so unfortunately in the rush I was unable to capture any shots, but lucky for me my friend and photographer extraordinaire, Tessa, took these beautiful images of the night. We were treated to a stunning view of the city, while models dressed in Costarella sauntered through the crowd. Unfortunately due to work commitments I wont be able to attend many shows this year, so for full coverage be sure to pay one of the blogs above a visit.

Sunday, September 11

This week S surprised me with a pretty dress from Australian label NEUW. The scalloped hem, the off grey wash, and the shiny buttons all up the back, add up to a perfect summer staple. This is my second dress from NEUW's Spring Summer line, the collection consists of greys burgundies and mustard tones, all favourites of mine.

Today I took my new frock for a stroll around East Perth and then out to brunch. Oh and I also teamed the dress with some new OPI nail varnish (road house blues) and my very old school back pack.